


Weakness

by so_freaking_tired



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Agni Kai (Avatar), Bad Writing?, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, literally just cute zutara stuff, post agni kai, unedited, wait not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25453588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/so_freaking_tired/pseuds/so_freaking_tired
Summary: After his Agni Kai with Azula, Zuko and Katara finally have a conversation about what's going on between them.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 62





	Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> hi!!  
> please enjoy this very random, surface-level, poorly-written Zutara fic i cranked out. i just watched ATLA for the first time a couple months ago and have not stopped reading fanfictions about it since. i fucking love this show and it changed my life. i wrote this in like 40 minutes and didn't edit it cos YOLO so please no hate<3  
> much love and i hope everyone is safe + healthy :)  
> xx

Zuko was used to heat.

He lived in heat, breathed it, used it. High temperatures didn’t usually bother him – his life was consumed by fire, and he had learned to respect that.

After Katara had pressed her hands to his stomach, drawing the prickly electricity from his veins, he had mustered a thank you before passing out. When he awoke, he was too hot. The thin sheets of his bed – his _bed,_ he realized in the back of his mind – felt like thick furs against his moist skin. There was a sheen of sweat running across his forehead and chest, and the heat seemed to be emitting from a lumpy new wound above his stomach where Azula’s lightning had pierced his skin.

His limbs felt like rubber under the covers and he huffed frustratedly, letting his neck rotate to the side to examine the room. He was in his bedroom, which meant that Aang had defeated his father. He felt a wave of both relief and shock. His father was dead. And Zuko was the new Fire Lord.

Before he could panic, the door to his room opened quietly as if someone was trying to enter without being heard. He lifted his neck to the best of his ability and saw a familiar figure in blue closing the door behind her with one hand, the other holding a bronze bowl carefully.

Katara nearly dropped the bowl of water when she turned to find his eyes focused on her. She grinned widely and walked to his bed, setting the bowl on his nightstand and sitting down on the mattress beside him.

Zuko felt the urge to grasp her hand or her cheek or something, _anything,_ just to feel her cool skin against his burning flesh. She seemed to read his mind, as she often did, and her hand reached up to run through his hair. He almost moaned at the feeling of her fingers on his scalp, so gentle, like snowflakes melting against his skin.

“How are you feeling?” she asked him softly.

“Hot,” he answered back, his voice raspy. She bit her lip and stood, pulling the sheets off of him. He reveled in the feeling of her hands grasping his shoulders and helping him sit up against the headboard. She sat again and her hands left his arms, but he reached out and grabbed them, bringing them to his shirtless body and pressing her fingers against his scar. “It feels cool,” he explained when she furrowed her brows at his behavior. Zuko didn’t usually like to be touched, but Katara was different. He never wanted her to leave his side.

“What happened?” Zuko finally asked. Katara’s fingers ran absentmindedly along his stomach, tracing his scar as she looked into his honey-colored eyes and smiled.

“We won,” she said, “Aang defeated your father. You’re going to be the Fire Lord, Zuko.”

“Did he…” Zuko didn’t even finish his sentence, as Katara was shaking her head quickly.

“No. Somehow… I don’t know how, frankly… He took away his bending.”

Zuko nodded. It was probably for the best. There was some part of him that was relieved that his father was alive – but another indifferent. He didn’t care about his father’s life. He did, however, care about his mother, and his father was the only one who had answers about what happened to her. If she was alive, Ozai had the answers.

“And Azula?”

Katara’s smile faltered. “She’s locked up,” her expression softened. “I know that must have been hard for you to watch.”

Zuko considered her words. “A little. She was my sister, after all. We used to have fun together. But that was a long time ago.”

“Something about her…” Katara thought aloud, “It just makes me feel like she was a little bit of a victim too. A victim of your father, a victim of circumstance…”

“I can’t think about that right now,” Zuko pressed his eyes closed, “Her actions were inexcusable.”

Katara nodded, raising one of her hands to run her fingers through his hair once more. He looked at her.

“But maybe the same can be said for me,” he rasped, “my actions…”

“You need to stop blaming yourself,” Katara cut him off firmly, “You made mistakes. We all do. You actively tried to better yourself. That’s what counts.”

Zuko looked down at his hands. “There’s part of me that thinks that, you know, even after everything… You and Aang and Sokka and everyone will never truly forgive me.”

She lifted his chin with her fingers. “I don’t know how many times we have to say it. We forgive you. And we trust you. You’re going to make this world better.”

“I’ll need help,” he said softly.

“We’ll be here.”

“After all I’ve done,” he scoffed. “I can’t believe I have friends like you. I don’t deserve you guys.”

“You deserve it all, Zuko. You saved my life. You would have done it for any of us.”

Her hands were on his chest now, fingertips dancing along his muscles. His chest fluttered at the feeling. Her hair was down and messily framing her face, hanging over her shoulders and tickling his arms gently. He could almost feel her breath on his face.

“Yeah, I would have, but…”

“But?” she asked with a slight chuckle.

“You’re… different.”

“What do you mean?” she asked slowly.

Zuko shifted. “I don’t think Azula would have sent the lightning at just anyone. She was slipping, but she’s still smart. I think.. I think she knew that you’re… You know.”

“I’m what, Zuko?” she said, breathing out the words.

“You’re different.”

She slapped his chest gently. “Stop saying that and just say what I want you to say.”

He grinned. He lifted his hand to her face, touching her cheek softly. His skin was so hot against her cool flesh that he felt as if she might melt.

“You’re my weakness,” he finally said, and it only took Katara a moment after she heard his words to lean forward and brush her lips against his. She went in for a soft kiss, careful not to hurt him, but he let his hand slide behind her neck and up into the roots of her hair, pulling her against him.

Her body was wonderfully cool, and her lips tasted of salt. It was better than kissing a firebender, he thought.

She pulled away after a bit and looked him up and down. His hand was still resting behind her neck and his other hand had snaked onto her waist to pull her flush against him. She suddenly giggled and blushed like a little girl.

“What?” he said, grinning at her.

“This is just… wow.” She said, leaning forward and pecking his lips again.

“Katara, this isn’t just a moment,” Zuko murmured, brushing his lips against her jaw. “This is something real for me.”

“It’s real for me too,” she whispered. “I was just so afraid to say something. I was so angry at you because.. Back in Ba Sing Se, I really trusted you. I thought you had changed. I thought…”

“I know.” Zuko said firmly. “I’m so ashamed of what I did.”

“I know.” Katara echoed. “But you can let that go now. It’s in the past.”

“And what about the future?”

Katara smiled. “What about it, Fire Lord?”

“How would you like to stay here with me? Be some kind of water tribe ambassador? We can rebuild the world together.”

“I have to visit my family first, sort some things out,” she began, and Zuko’s heart sank. “But then, of course I’ll stay with you. I don’t think my life is in the South Pole. It will always be my home, but I think I can do good here.”

“You can do good anywhere. You’re wonderful,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her again. She laughed against his lips and pulled back.

“Do you want me to stay or not, stupid?”

“I want you to stay,” Zuko insisted. They both laughed. Zuko’s eyes ran over her once again. “What about Aang?”

“I’m not some prize. He’s my friend before anything else. He’ll understand eventually.” She said firmly.

“This is going to be hard. People will talk.”

“Let them talk,” she pressed, running her hand along his cheek, “They’ve talked before. I think you’ve already gone through the worst publicity of your life. Maybe you can give me tips on how to handle it.”

Zuko chuckled. “Maybe.”

They sat for a long time, pressed up against each other. Katara closed her eyes and nestled her head under his chin. Zuko breathed her in. He couldn’t believe his luck. After everything he’d been through, for years of his life, he was finally at peace. There was work to do, but it didn’t matter. He had her. He knew, as the waterbender shifted comfortably in his arms, he would never be alone again.


End file.
